The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3Whymper, Frederick
History
The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3
Whymper, Frederick
Adventure and adventurers; Arctic regions; Ocean; Voyages around the world
On the shores of North Somerset they made an interesting discovery. The
_Pandora_ had attained the furthest point reached by Ross and McClintock
when coming down the coast on foot from the north in 1849, at which time
they had built a cairn, and left a record addressed to Sir John Franklin,
stating that they had been despatched for his succour. Poor Franklin never
found it, but it was reserved for Captain Young to receive it twenty-eight
years later. Ross had at that time been within two hundred miles of the
spot where the wrecks of Franklin’s vessels had been abandoned.
The _Pandora_ at length succeeded in reaching La Roquette Island, and the
expedition had, therefore, in a very brief space of time, attained a
position only 120 miles from Franklin’s farthest point. Success had
crowned their efforts so far. All on board were sanguine that they would
ere long be basking in the warmth of a Californian autumn, and enjoying
the good things of San Francisco. It was fated otherwise. They found an
unbroken ice-field before them, extending for, so far as they could judge,
an indefinite distance. They cruised about the island for three days, but
matters only grew worse, and, indeed, the ice was moving slowly towards
them. Reluctantly Captain Young decided to give up his attempt at a
north-west passage, and return to England. On the way out of Peel Strait,
with squalls, snow, and darkness, they had a most difficult task in
handling the vessel, having to run races with the driving ice-packs so as
to avoid being shut in. The ice-pack at Cape Rennel prevented a passage
round it. Suddenly, a snowstorm which had been beating down upon them for
the whole night, abated, and disclosed high precipitous cliffs hanging
almost over them as it seemed, and “presenting,” says Captain Young in his
“Journal,” “a most ghostly appearance, the horizontal strata seeming like
the huge bars of some gigantic iron cage, and standing out from the snow
face. In fact, it was the skeleton of a cliff, and we appeared to be in
its very grasp. For a few minutes only we saw this apparition, and then
all was again darkness.” They barely had room to pass between this cliff
and the ice-pack, and then hastily ranged about, seeking some escape.
After three hours of intense anxiety, a slight movement in the pack was
reported from aloft, indicating a weak place in it, and through this gap
the vessel at length forced her way. On September 10th they passed through
a terrible gale; the heavy seas froze as they fell on the vessel’s sides,
and the _Pandora_ became “one huge icicle.” On reaching the Carey Islands
they found, at a different spot to that previously visited, a cairn,
erected by Captain Nares, from which they obtained a tin tube addressed to
the Admiralty. The _Pandora_ reached Portsmouth safely on October 16th,
1865, her cruise having been, all in all, one of the most successful of
any made in the Arctic seas in a period of time so short.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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